


Note

by mimosa-supernova (FourCatProductions)



Series: Femslash February 2020 [5]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Crushes, F/F, Femslash February, Getting Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:33:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22661047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FourCatProductions/pseuds/mimosa-supernova
Summary: Maru has a secret admirer.
Relationships: Maru/Penny (Stardew Valley)
Series: Femslash February 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626805
Comments: 12
Kudos: 49





	Note

When Maru first gets the note, she thinks it’s a joke. Three days later, she’s not so sure, and curiosity sends her to the lake by the mines, in case it isn’t. What kind of a scientist is she if she doesn’t see her hypothesis through? A poor excuse for one, that’s what kind. She sits cross-legged now, beneath the ancient maple tree on the shore, and watches fireflies blink out across the water. The note is in her pocket, crumpled and creased, printed by a neat hand. She’s already memorized it, but it helps to have it on hand, as a reminder she’s not imagining things.

_Dear Maru,_

_You’re amazing. I think about you all the time, and I should have told you how I feel about you a long time ago. I don’t know if you feel the same way, but if you want to know who I am, meet me this Friday evening at eight, at the lake by your house. We can talk about it in person._

_Your Secret Admirer_

She reads it again, shoving her glasses up her nose. _Your secret admirer._ She’s never had a secret anything. Their house is big enough for a lot of things, experiments and wood-working and strained relationships – her mom built it that way – but too small for anything but the most unimportant of secrets, squirreled away beneath the floorboards. She wishes she could talk to them about it, her family, but she already knows it’s a bad idea. Her dad doesn’t like anything that might interfere with her getting her PhD, her mom would immediately invite whoever it is over for dinner, and Sebastian talks to her so little sometimes that she has to wonder if he remembers she’s alive. No, she’s going to have to sort this one out on her own, and soon. The moon is rising over the mountains, a silvery-white crescent no thicker than her thumbnail, and the sky is fading from blue to stormy purple. Assuming the note isn’t a joke, her mystery admirer will be there soon, which leaves her with the obvious question. The one she’s been avoiding.

Pelican Town is an insulated hamlet at the edge of the western coast, its population sparse compared to the cities further inland, and once she eliminates everyone who’s too old, too young, or otherwise involved, the list of potential writers is disconcertingly small. A prank by Sam or Abigail, maybe? She doubts it. They’ve always been nice to her, and in any case, they’re dating each other. They have better things to do. Shane wouldn’t write a letter like this in any strand of the multiverse, especially not to her, and Emily and Haley are equally unlikely for different reasons. Elliott seems like the type, but they’ve only talked a handful of times, and she’s pretty sure he’s interested in the new farmer down the lane. Alex is single, technically, but she doesn’t think she’s his type. She’s heard Sam and Sebastian talking about what they’ve seen in his locker up at the spa. Which leaves –

Well, Harvey’s a nice man and a good doctor, and Penny’s convinced he’s sweet on her, but he’s her _boss,_ he’s over a decade her senior, he’s not – how is she supposed to face him at the clinic later, if he is? Not that she thinks he’d react badly if she said no, but it would be awkward and horrible and there aren’t any other clinics for her to intern with in a thirty-mile radius –

She sighs. Harvey isn’t the problem. The problem is that she knows who she wants to have written the note, and if it’s not, whoever it is probably deserves better than her disappointment. The stars are out now, freckling the dark in silver and gold. Bullfrogs croak in the water. Maru stretches out, leans her head against the tree. It’s getting late, but she’s not ready to go home yet. It’s peaceful up here, just her while everyone else in town is at the saloon. There’s no reason she can’t sit for a little bit longer.

“Maru?”

She looks up, startled. Penny stands at the foot of the bridge, hands clasped behind her back. She looks the same as she always does, dressed in her favorite soft cardigan and plaid skirt, her red hair neatly curled, but in the starlight it’s like Maru’s seeing her for the first time. She stares, and Penny blushes, looking down at her toes.

“So… you got my note.”

Maru doesn’t consider herself a romantic. She’s never kissed anyone who isn’t related to her, never had a girlfriend or boyfriend or an anything-friend. She likes things that are straight-forward, with a concrete solution – tech, numbers, equations. That’s where she’s at home. But this is _Penny,_ her best friend, who has the nicest brown eyes and prettiest smile Maru’s ever seen, who accepts her without question, who’s smart and kind and never stops dreaming. Penny, whose hand she wants to hold and never let go.

“Yeah.” She swallows. “I did.”

Penny pats at her bangs, hands fluttering. She’s blushing harder now, and her hands keep moving like she doesn’t know what to do with them, touching her hair, her sweater, her skirt. Maru can’t help it – she smiles, wide enough to make her cheeks hurt, and Penny smiles back, tentative. Hopeful.

“Did you know it was from me?”

“No,” Maru says, and holds out her own hand. “But I wanted it to be.”


End file.
